Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he remains engaged in talks with Washington over its move to prioritize U.S. needs for protective medical supplies and ensure it does not impact Canada’s supply of the equipment.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he remains engaged in talks with Washington over its move to prioritize U.S. needs for protective medical supplies and ensure it does not impact Canada’s supply of the equipment.
“I’m not going to engage in hypotheticals,” Trudeau said Sunday, when asked whether he would consider retaliating in response to concerns that Canada could be thwarted in its attempts to shore up its stock of medical masks and other supplies.
“I will say that we’ll do what is necessary to keep Canadians safe and we will do it in as constructive a way as possible.”
The remarks come a day after Trudeau said he would not take “retaliatory measures or measures that are punitive” in response to the Trump administration’s invocation of the Defense Protection Act.
The act gives the administration the power to ramp up the production and acquisition of critically-needed supplies.
On Friday, Minnesota-based company 3M said that it had been ordered to halt exports of U.S.-made N95 masks to Canada and Latin America.
However, U.S. Trade Adviser Peter Navarro told Fox News later that day that the country would still send “some exports” from U.S. factories to Canada and Mexico.
Nevertheless, Trudeau said he planned to speak to U.S. President Donald Trump directly in the “coming days” about the issue, which comes amid global concern about countries interrupting supply chains to protect their own resources.
Watch: Trudeau ‘confident’ deal can be reached on medical supplies
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government is working with the American administration amid calls by U.S. President Donald Trump to keep medical supplies in the United States. 1:15
“Conversations continue with the American administration in terms of solving this issue, because as I’ve said, both sides of the border benefit tremendously [from] the flow back and forth of essential supplies and me